Today in the Mission Yearbook - Memphis church finds new life, ministries in storefront

Evergreen Presbyterian Church pastor: ‘I’m glad [members] were bold enough to take that leap’

July 14, 2024

Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, is writing 

a new chapter not only in a nontraditional place, but with new 

friends and missions. (Photo courtesy of Evergreen Presbyterian 

Church)

Membership had gone from 1,400 to about 160 over the decades. Maintaining a 10-acre campus, with a tall-steeple sanctuary built in 1950, drained money and energy. Church leaders struggled with the implications of closing or merging.

It’s not a new story.

However, Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, is writing a new chapter not only in a nontraditional place, but with new friends and missions.

Longtime member Susan Bransford, whose husband, Roger, served for years on the property and grounds committee, said the congregation made many efforts to lower operating costs.

The sanctuary, gym and education building proved too much to maintain. Discussions about selling the property to the neighboring, Presbyterian-affiliated Rhodes College went on for years.

“We were bleeding money,” Bransford said. “It was very obvious it needed to happen.”

Other members were not ready to let go. But one older member, the wife of an influential former pastor, urged the congregation to move on.

Evergreen in 2013 participated in the Presbyterian Foundation’s Project Regeneration. This program helps congregations deal with property and other transitions and discern God’s call in writing their next chapter.

Eleven years ago, Evergreen Presbyterian Church sold its former 

building to Rhodes College, which has since transformed it into a 

concert hall. (Contributed photo)

The congregation voted that year to sell its property to the college, which has since turned the gymnasium into a bookstore and the sanctuary into a concert hall.

Evergreen member Mark Hamilton, who led the committee in charge of the sale, said the property could likely have brought in more money on the commercial market. But Rhodes let Evergreen stay for 27 months, rent-free, while it looked for a new home. An afterschool program moved to a nearby public school; the preschool, to another church.

The congregation, then under the leadership of the Rev. Lucy Waechter Webb, tried out different worship spaces for a couple of years. It ultimately decided to use some of the proceeds from the property to purchase its current building in 2016.

“We ended up buying a storefront, which is what everybody absolutely agreed they did not want,” Bransford said.

Yet here Evergreen is in a modest single-story space that, from the street, looks like it could house anything from a dry cleaner to an independent bookshop.

Inside are rows of carefully arranged chairs, a multicolored banner with the word “joy,” and a metal sculpture hanging from the ceiling with delicate, flying birds. Abundant natural light flows in through what used to be store windows.

“It looks spiritual, but not like a church,” Bransford said.

The Rev. Patrick Harley

That less-churchy vibe turned out to be much more welcoming for those who have been turned off or even harmed by traditional churches, especially Millennials, Gen Z and the LGBTQIA+ community.

Taking “the church isn’t the building” further: “We’ve been known to close down and go somewhere else on a Sunday,” she added — another congregation or a park, for example. They brought Holy Communion to an area where many are unhoused.

“There was something maybe freeing about changing the physical space that none of us foresaw.”

The church rents out its space for meetings, concerts, art exhibits and other events. It has a long-term tenant in the same building, a counseling agency working primarily with those living with HIV/AIDS.

These rentals are an important source of income, said the Rev. Patrick Harley, Evergreen’s pastor since 2020. Relatively little is spent on the building.

Hamilton, the current church treasurer, said the congregation still faces the same challenges as other churches in the Presbytery of the Mid-South in generating enough pledge income to cover operating expenses.

The rental income and investment income from the remaining proceeds from the property sale cover the shortfall in Evergreen’s operating budget, he said. The goal is to increase membership and pledges to cover all operating expenses.

“I don’t think Evergreen is alone in facing that our Baby Boomer-aged members are funding a high percentage of our pledge income,” Hamilton said.

However, the congregation’s overall financial health is sound. “We continue to find ways to serve our greater community as an inclusive and affirming church.”

Nancy Crowe for the Presbyterian Foundation, Special to Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Memphis finds new life

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Troy Marables, Senior Vice President, Director of Human Resources, Presbyterian Foundation 
Michael Marrone, Vice President, Strategic Planning & Execution, Board of Pensions

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, in all that we say and do, may we reflect Christ’s love for people everywhere. Help us all to look beyond our differences and concentrate on the commonalities we share as your children. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘Birthed in the heart of God and planted in Talladega’

Despite the pandemic, Presbyterian Home for Children paves a path of hope

January 13, 2021

It’s a common sight from the window of Doug Marshall’s office at the Presbyterian Home for Children in Talladega, Alabama: A care worker accompanies a new girl from the administration building to the cottage that will be her new home.

She is overwhelmed, perhaps crying. The care worker, who has made this trip across campus countless times, quietly walks with her.

“To me, it is the beginning of walking that path of hope,” said Marshall, president and CEO of the home.

Now in its 153rd year — and in the midst of a global pandemic — the home is finding new ways to keep that path clear and to open more avenues of healing.

It does so while hitting all the marks of ethical, financially responsible and compassionate operation, said Dr. Cindy Wilson, moderator of the Board of Trustees.

“It is a very faith-filled organization,” she said.

A shared ministry of North Alabama, Sheppards and Lapsley and South Alabama presbyteries, the home began after the Civil War by serving widows and orphans. The children and families now served have had their lives upended by poverty, abuse and abandonment. Many arrive with nowhere else to go.

Yet it’s not the end of the road.

“They’re not homeless when they’re here,” Marshall said.

The home’s Secure Dwellings program provides transitional housing for boys and girls up to age 17 and their female caregivers, usually mothers. Young women from 19 to 24 who have aged out of foster care receive room, board and support through Transition to Adult Living. Moderate Care, a state-recognized residential treatment program, serves girls ages 13 to 17 who have previously been subject to extreme abuse or neglect.

Family Bridges, in conjunction with the Alabama State Department of Human Resources, gives parents a chance to keep or regain custody of their children through intensive in-home services.

All children who reside at the home, as well as some day students, receive fully accredited education through Ascension Leadership Academy (K-8) and Hope Academy (9-12).

When COVID-19 reached the United States, the home put its existing pandemic and influenza plan into action. Access to and from campus was restricted, new residents underwent isolation and volunteer workdays were canceled. Staff received specialized training and tried to balance truthfulness with assurances of safety.

A large apartment was set aside for quarantine. In-home services and daily classes moved online as all parties sheltered separately in place.

Much of life at the home slowed, but it couldn’t stop.

Over the past year, the Presbyterian Home for Children has also expanded its base of engagement into the business world. A new junior board of young professionals is working on leadership development, service and fun.

One of its projects was a “Sweet Home Soirée” (“I wasn’t sure about that name at first,” Marshall admitted) gala in Birmingham, which brought in $57,000 in net income. Sweet Home Soirée Huntsville raised $38,000. Both will be held again this spring, with Sweet Home Soirée Mobile added.

 Marshall, whose background is in corporate accounting, frequently shares the work of the home with congregations. “I’m a financial guy who can preach,” he said with a laugh.

The home operates on a balanced budget, he said. “Our goal is to leave our money at the Presbyterian Foundation and let it grow.”

Those who invest in the home can be sure not only that their money will be used wisely, but that the home will not rest on its laurels, board moderator Wilson said. It has changed as society has changed. Its leaders have made sure of that.

“They don’t get stuck in ‘We don’t do that’ or ‘We’ve never done that.’ It’s ‘This is who needs us, so let’s see how we can make that happen,’” she said.

It’s all about creating, and re-creating, that path of hope.

“I tell people all the time we were birthed in the heart of God and planted in Talladega,” Marshall said.

Nancy Crowe, Writer for the Presbyterian Foundation

Let us join in prayer for:  

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Ricky Blade, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Michele Blum, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

Let us pray:

Compassionate God, we acknowledge your powerful presence in your outpouring of love and generosity as we reach across to our brothers and sisters under pain and suffering, in obedience to your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.